She smiled, watching Keats rack his brain to figure out the answer, and said, "With the good prize, I went with a harder riddle. I'm glad to see it's stumped such a smart man like you!"

It was a fine day to explore the new city and Legolas thought it best to visit the business districts first. Passing through South Philly, he noticed a group of men gathered around someone whom he mistook for a street vendor. 

He marched over to the street corner to sate his curiosity. To his surprise, a couple of the mafioso in the group were familiar to him and he nodded at ZR and Roger. He turned to the other gentleman and when their eyes met, the tension in the air started rising. It was almost palpable. Odd he thought , since this was the first time he had met this man.

There wasn't much time to ponder over it for a sweet female voice distracted him. She started reciting a riddle and it had his complete attention. After delivering the riddle she gazed at the onlookers, awaiting a reply. Legolas was deep in thought but this riddle had him baffled.

The homeless man nearby pulled out a pack of smokes and lit one up. His long scraggly white beard reminded Legolas of an old friend who loved smoking pipe weed. What a terrible vice it was, yet people craved it. For what, to feel good for a brief moment? Then it hit him.

"The devil's lettuce," he shouted out. "Err wait no." What was the proper name for it.

"Cigar or cigarette. Is that the answer you were looking for Miss?" he asked calmly.

He had been standing on a little distance, but within hearing perimeter so far. So far, Rudy was pretty surprised about all the answers.. The only thing he was convinced of was that the double moon in a single month wasn't called February. Eight seemed like a decent answer to him, too..

 I am slim and tall. Many find me desirable and appealing. They touch me and I give a false good feeling. Once I shine in splendor, but only once and then no more. For many I am 'to die for'. What am I?"

Rudy liked how Morte_Rossa started to describe herself, until he noticed that this actually was a new riddle. Rudy chuckled at Legolas mentioning a cigarette..

Softly mumbling to @ZebrishRedd_

Isn't that funny? The answer would have to be virginity, of course

Rudy smiled and watches the scene go on

Looking around, Morte was beginning to think that no one would know the correct answer when a young man approached the group of them that had gathered. He searched the faces of those near him before his eyes settled on her.

She smiled at him and laughed aloud as he shouted "the devil's lettuce!" before correcting himself shortly by saying "cigar or cigarette".

"That is correct Sir!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I wasn't sure anyone would know the answer, and I was really excited about this prize! For correctly answering this riddle, you have earned yourself a corrupt agent. This guy here is a real winner I tell you. He'll do your bidding, keep you out of jail.. And here I am talking like you don't know what these guys do..."

Nodding her head, she motioned the officer that was just several yards away towards Legolas and said, "You know what to do Officer! Congratulations Legolas."

She watched as the Officer made his way over to Legolas, then pulled another paper from her purse and continued by saying, "So.. On with the questions, shall we? The next one will be a trivia question again. And it is...

In 1917, Finland declared its independence from which country?"

Luxanna had been lurking nearby, listening to the riddles and their answers, but not yet joining in the answering. That was until she heard the riddle asking where Finland had declared its independence from.

Although she wasn't from around that area, nor did she really know anyone from there, her geography was decent. There was only one country that immediately came to her mind. Stepping forward, she approached the crowd and Morte_Rossa.

"If I'm not mistaken, the country you are looking for is Russia, but alas, I could always be mistaken.."

A slow smile formed on Morte's face as a young lady stepped forward from between the men that seemed to be two times her size, and listened to her calm voice give the correct answer.

"You are definitely not mistaken Ma'am," she said to her. "The correct answer is Russia! You have won three gold credits for giving that answer."

She pulled three gold coins out of her purse, standing up to walk over to Luxanna and give them to her.

"Congratulations for getting that!" She exclaimed, shaking the young lady's hand before turning to take her seat again. "And with that we will continue. I'll go with a riddle again now..

A young man is discovered dead at his desk, alone in a locked office.  There are no weapons in the room, and he didn't commit suicide. The only clue around is a sealed envelope in front of him on the desk. How did he die?"

John was watching the scene for some time when he decided to approach and participate.

"Heart attack" he made his hoarse voice sound loud and clear. "The young man died of a heart attack."

He then took a long drag on his cigarette, while looking around convinced that he was right.

She slowly shook her head after JohnWalton had spoke, saying, "No. That's actually not the correct answer. But it is a good guess!"

Looking around, she asked, "Does anyone else have any ideas?"

Legolas was too busy examining his corrupt agent to notice Luxanna swoop in and answer the next riddle. Not that he knew anything about Finland. During his time at sea, he hadn't had the pleasure of visiting Finland.

Soon she started with the next riddle and he gasped when he heard that a young man was found dead. It brought back too many memories from his past. This was a tough case and he knew a couple of people capable of solving this. 

"This looks like a job for a detective. We finally get to see who the better detective is" he stated.

JakePeralta or Sherlock

He prayed silently that he wouldn't start a feud.

Rudy looked at Legolas

They don't need a detective! It's straightforward.

There basically are two options: Either there is a letter I wrote myself in that envelope, and he got bored to death reading it. Or he got poisoned and it took some time to kick in. Or he had an illness and just wrote his farewell letter..

Rudy smiled, hoping that no-one noticed his lack of counting skills

Her eyes shifted from Legolas, who had tried to motion his friends over so they could try to figure the riddle out, to Rudy, who gave about 99% of the answer.

Smiling, she said, "Rudy, I will give you this one. But only because you did say he was poisoned. He was indeed! The glue on the envelope was coated with poison, and when he licked it to seal it, he therefore was poisoned. So, you're pretty much correct."

"I will let you choose your own prize, Rudy," she said to him. "Just reach into the bag, rifle through and pick one, then hand it to me so I know what to give you!"

Rudy smiled, but felt he had to be honest..

I am glad that 1 of the 2 options I gave was close, but I didn't really think of poisoned glue, Morte_Rossa..
I was thinking the poison would have had some time needed to expose itself.. So I will try to get the next one righter instead of picking something now, all right?

She nods after Rudy finished speaking, saying, "As you wish then. At least you were completely honest. The way I heard it was just you saying he had been poisoned, which was pretty much right. So. Then I suppose we will go on to the next one without a prize being awarded."

Clearing her throat, she said, "This one will be another trivia question, so here we go..

What is the capital of Iceland?"

Keats smiled.

“Reykjavik- although I just confess I’m more confident about the answer than its spelling or pronunciation.”

She looked over at Keats as he answered the question, noting how silent he had been for a bit, and smiled.

"I'm sure you know how to spell it just fine, Sir!" She said. "And that is correct. So now, you can pick a paper from the bag, then hand it to me so I know what the prize will be!"

Rudy knew this one..

It reminded him of the time when he was a kid, when his uncle took him on a hunting trip into the winter mountains.. His uncle had told how he loved those trips, because they reminded him of the most terrible time he ever spent.. When he was labouring in Tálknafjörður, he had to work 16 hours a day, trying to fight the rotting process of the whales that were shot inside the bay. The winter landscape reminded his uncle about that period of his life and his relief to have been able to get away from it again, by taking the boat from Reykjavik.. Little Rudy had always loved the stories..

He looked towards Legolas and just hoped he was in time still..

Reyjavik!

As Keats was walking towards her, Rudy yelled the answer, and she giggled. 

"A little behind unfortunately," she said. "But hey, you were right-er this time! I'm sorry that it just wasn't quite fast enough for this question. Possibly get the next one right-er as well!"

Goddamnit!

Rudy thought.. But he tried to behave himself and kept his words.. word.. inside of him. He had been distracted by getting his own thoughts in line when Keats apparently had immediately answered.

I am glad I was more righter this time, @MorteRossa.. And I will try to stop, or at least shorten, my daydreaming in case there would be a next riddle, puzzle or question..

He already knew being both righter and fasterer at the same time would be a massive challenge for him..

Listening to Rudy, she nodded when he said he needed to at least shorten his daydreaming. 

"Hard to answer questions when you're off in space," she said to him. "So definitely need to be right-er and faster-er and more present-er."

She giggled, and when Keats finally stood in front of her, she held out the bag to him, watching him pull out a piece of paper. He handed it to her and she read it aloud, "Instant Named Bodyguard!"

"Congratulations," she said. "That's a great prize indeed. And that will be rewarded to you in just a moment, once the bodyguard of your choosing gets over here for you to give him a name. You won't be able to leave his sight! Not that you should have been able to before but.. You know.. Anyways."

She coughed to clear her throat again before saying, "We'll do a math question this time. See how good you guys are at mental math and questions, etc. So here we go... 

When my father was 31, I was 8. Now he is twice as old as me. How old am I?"

John had continued around, listening to the riddles. When he heard the last one, he closed one eye, doing some quick math and hurried to answer.

"Well, 39. You're 39 years old."

He stared at Morte with a smile on his face, convinced of his answer again.